It required a 5 AM wake-up call for this summer sunrise session in Fort Worth with Allie and Connor but I’d take that alarm over and over again to spend another morning documenting HOW. MUCH. FUN. these two have together. It is always seriously such an absolute ball to spend any length of time with Allie and Connor and I’m already counting down the days to their wedding next January.

Thanks to Meagan Betchel for waking up super early to do Allie’s hair and make-up before our 7 AM start time — ‘ppreciate you!

Well you guys, this blogpost is going to be an extra special one because this was the wedding day of my brother and now sister-in-law. And man oh man, these two mean so much to me. As I was looking back through these images for this post I was laugh-crying at how happy they were on this day and how truly extremely grateful I am for them to have found each other. Beyond the bride and groom themselves having my heart, my husband was a groomsmen, my daughter was a flower girl (you’ll notice a slight mom bias in how many photos of her ended up in this blogpost but sorrynotsorry hahaha), the wedding took place at our Uncle James and Darren’s backyard + these were some of the last photos ever taken of our dear Pap before he passed away just two short months after. Last year was the hardest one I had lived through for a variety of reasons but Jacob meeting Liz and their subsequent wedding 11 months later was (and will always be remembered as) the bright brightest spot in all the hard.

A collection of five photographers, including and primarily myself, actually contributed to telling this wedding story and I’m thankful for each and every unique perspective they brought to telling it. Jacob actually was the groomsman/videographer at mine and James’ wedding eight years ago and there is something so special to me of having the wedding video being from my little brother’s perspective of the day. So Jacob not only gets wedding images from the perspective of his big sister, but many more loved ones as well. There wasn’t a set second shooter because it was such a small, intimate backyard wedding plus James (my resident second shooter) was a groomsmen/brother-in-law so he wasn’t always available. Although I was the main shooter, the groom himself + James tag-teamed groom prep time, during family portraits that I was in Hannah Higgins stepped in (she hadn’t planned to but she showed up early and I preferred someone who already knew how to work a camera over a random relative haha). When Chris Newby showed up for the ceremony I held out a second camera and was like, “WANNA SECOND SHOOT?” He said yes and captured some really beautiful moments during the ceremony — super appreciate for you, Chris! And then James photographed the reception exit (and snagged one of my most favorite send-off photos of all time) because he’s a good husband and because Juniper hadn’t napped that day (you’ll see a photo of her towards the end running wildly through the front yard having stripped off half her flower girl outfit hahaha) and just needed momma to hold her so how was I supposed to turn that down?

All this to say — it was a really, really sweet day and I’ll just let the photos do the rest of the talking (edit: I actually ended up inserting a lot of sisterly commentary into these, my bad). It started on a bright November morning in Stephenville, Texas.

Jacob and the groomsmen had stayed just a couple of blocks over from where the wedding would be so Jacob took a morning stroll over (his film camera in hand) after getting ready.

All of the beyond stunning florals were done by Scott’s Flowers — the best in all the land (and I don’t think that’s just niece bias talking).

Jacob was only a LITTLE giddy to see his bride soon. You’ll notice that he and Liz both are super-expressive and there is literally nothing I love photographing more than people whose faces show every ounce of joy + excitement they’re feeling in that moment.

IT’S LIZ AND I LOVE HER!!!!

Okay I know it’s a GIF and it’s moving but really try not to miss how Jacob had tears in his eyes before he even turned around to see Liz for their first look. Just the fact that he was mere moments away from seeing his bride was enough to bring on the tears.

These are all my siblings (I’m in the floral dress hugging my 6’8″ baby brother) and I love them all so. Our sister was actually in between round of chemotherapy for the leukemia she had been diagnosed with earlier that year and we hadn’t known if her immune system was going to be strong enough for her to fully take part in this special day but we are so thankful to the Lord for her being strong enough to be present + of course take part in the sibling hugs this day entailed. We certainly do not take that for granted.

Chris snagged these next few of Jacob walking into his wedding ceremony like “IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING??”

Both Liz + Jacob were struggling to hold it together during the parental prayer at the end of the ceremony.

I’M LAUGH-CRYING AGAIN LOOK HOW HAPPY THEY ARE TO BE PRONOUNCED HUSBAND AND WIFE OH IT’S JUST SO SWEET I COULD BURST.

Juniper didn’t care if he was the groom, she was NOT having any celebratory post-ceremony kisses from her uncle Jacob hahahaha.

I’ve literally never seen my momma happier than dancing to “Loves Me Like A Rock” with Jacob. (MAYBE her happiness matched this at the births of her grandchildren, but I’m not even 100% sure of that hahaha)

This first image was the original inspiration for this particular post. I loved the clear narrative all wrapped up in a single image — Kelly prepping for her wedding in her parents’ home while the dress she’d wear to walk down the aisle to Nic waited patiently for her to put it on in the next room. Once I had grouped my favorites from Nick and Kelly’s wedding together for a blogpost I soon realized that quite a lot of them were in black and white too. Then it hit me — why not an entire blogpost in black and white?

I appreciate the simplicity of black and white, how with the color gone you’re given the opportunity to pay more attention to the composition of each frame. I’ve also always been drawn to the mood a black and white edit naturally brings to an image. Lastly, I just really enjoyed that narrowing my options down to only the black and white ones forced me down from my usual 200+ image blogposts hahaha.

So here you are. A wedding day in the bride’s small hometown where the warmth from both sides of their families flowed into each and every facet — one example being the Nic’s dad, two little brothers + his cousin making up 4/5ths of the groomsmen.

A story told in black and white.

I will forever love a goofy sibling photo.

I can’t remember exactly what this little boy was yelling, but I vaguely remember it being some form of greeting to Kelly + Nic once the ceremony had started. His laughing eyes and the dad’s sheepish smile are my favorite parts of this one.

Hannah + Jonathan will always have a most special place in my heart. I’ve known Hannah since college and have always been both impressed, as well as personally blessed, by how fierce an encourager she is. I met Jonathan when I had the joy and privilege of documenting + witnessing their proposal, their engagement as well as their wedding. Because of the season of life I was in during the majority of that timeframe (they got engaged when my daughter Juniper was very much a NEWborn + I have a distinct, sweet memory of having to wake my sleeping squishy baby to kiss her goodbye before I left the morning of Hannah + Jonathan’s wedding) I sadly didn’t get most of those images up on my blog. That first year of my daughter’s life was such a (happy) blur and I was doing my best to balance work + life in this starkly different season of life that I had to learn from scratch how in the world to navigate (MEANING like a grand total of four things got blogged that year hahahah). But oh, what joyful memories Hannah + Jonathan’s proposal, engagement, wedding are for me though. I’ll never, ever, ever, ever be able to wrap my mind around the blessing of being entrusted with capturing those for them. So when Jonathan reached out recently about surprising Hannah with a session just because around some of the same spots we hit up at their engagement session two years before (SWEET HUSBAND POINTS, AMMIRIGHT?) I was immediately on board. Here are a few of my favorites from that session around Denton.

I’ve also had the distinct pleasure of seeing Hannah start her own wedding photography business and just BLOSSOM in that. I am so proud, just as a friend, watching her excel and thrive. You can view her work here.